"What did you say?" Upon hearing that Xu had been poisoned, Pei Zhixuan's expression instantly turned sharp.

Terrified, Doctor Li kowtowed repeatedly, pleading, "Your Highness, please spare my life! I did indeed misdiagnose you just now. Fortunately, the Princess Consort reminded me."

Pei Zhixuan's expression was terrifyingly gloomy.

I feel like I could just draw my sword and kill the nearly sixty-year-old doctor right away.

Shen Yunjiao kindly spoke up for Doctor Li: "You don't need to scare him. This pulse is one of the ten extraordinary pulses in traditional Chinese medicine. Even a doctor who has been in the profession for his entire life would rarely encounter it once."

There are countless pulse signs of poisoning, but the sparrow-pecking pulse is the rarest. In her previous life, she had only seen a few cases by chance while following her teacher.

Pei Zhixuan pursed his lips, but ultimately did not scold Doctor Li. He simply looked at him seriously and asked, "Then how should we cure Mother's poison?"

“Her poisoning isn’t severe, so don’t worry. She just needs to drink some detoxifying Chinese medicine to cleanse her internal organs.” Shen Yunjiao, holding silver needles, raised an eyebrow and asked Pei Zhixuan calmly, “Can I administer the acupuncture now?”

He answered without hesitation: "Go ahead and administer the acupuncture."

“Okay.” Shen Yunjiao nodded, picked up the silver needles and inserted them into Xu’s forehead. “Doctor Li, please also apply a few acupuncture needles to Taichong and Sanyinjiao acupoints to guide the turbid qi downwards.”

Doctor Li looked up at Prince Pei, and seeing that he didn't intend to help him, he quickly got up from the ground and assisted Shen Yunjiao.

Pei Zhixuan stood guard beside Xu Shi, his gaze unconsciously drifting towards Shen Yunjiao.

Holding a silver needle, her beautifully drawn eyebrows and eyes conveyed not gentleness and coquettishness, but a composure and calmness unlike that of ordinary women.

He had never seen Shen Yunjiao like this before, yet he was genuinely captivated by her.

Pei Zhixuan forced himself to look away.

At this moment, no one noticed that Fang Ziyu's face was as dark as a storm cloud, extremely grim.

The acupuncture treatment lasted for half an hour.

Only after Xu let out a weak wail did Shen Yunjiao slowly withdraw the silver needles from Xu's body.

The needle hole was oozing dark purple blood.

"Princess Consort, is this the poison?" Doctor Li wiped the black blood with a clean white handkerchief, examined it for a while, and then said to Shen Yunjiao.

I guessed so.

Shen Yunjiao then looked at Pei Zhixuan, who had remained silent.

Pei Zhixuan happened to be looking at her as well.

His eyes were as deep as ink, as if they could draw you in.

Shen Yunjiao awkwardly looked away.

"Your Highness, I would like to question the people from Ci'an Hall," Shen Yunjiao asked tentatively. "Is that alright?"

Pei Zhixuan nodded and then summoned the nanny and maidservants beside Madam Xu.

A group of people knelt down in front of Shen Yunjiao.

Shen Yunjiao felt extremely uncomfortable, both visually and psychologically.

But she tried her best to ignore the awkwardness and began to question, "Madam, has there been any change in your diet lately? Have you eaten anything you shouldn't have?"

The head maid, An'er, kept her head down.

After a short while, she said nervously, "Madam has always paid great attention to her health and beauty. She never touches anything that is sweet or greasy or that she shouldn't eat."

Everyone else nodded in agreement.

If the food is fine, could the problem be with the other ingredients?

Shen Yunjiao looked around.

There was nothing unusable in Xu's house.

Just like the last time she came, the smoke from the incense burner was choking, and the surroundings were filled with a strong sandalwood scent.

wrong.

Shen Yunjiao's eyes narrowed.

She has a naturally keen sense of smell and easily noticed that the sandalwood scent this time was different from the last time.

The sandalwood incense burning in the Xu family's house today must contain something strange.

"What kind of incense is burning in Madam's room?" Shen Yunjiao asked.

An'er's eyes flickered, and she answered cautiously, "Replying to the young mistress, it is sandalwood that the lady uses for worshipping Buddha."

"Let me see it."

"This..." An'er stammered, still squatting on the ground, not daring to get up.

"Hurry up and go!" Pei Zhixuan also noticed the maid's unusual behavior, and his eyes turned cold.

Startled, An'er immediately rolled to the altar in front of the screen and retrieved the incense burner and incense.

She knelt down and presented it to Shen Yunjiao.

Pei Zhixuan suddenly said as Shen Yunjiao reached out to take it, "Give it to Doctor Li!"

Doctor Li quickly took it, first opening the incense burner to examine the ashes, and then smelling the unused sandalwood.

"There's something wrong with this sandalwood!"

Dr. Li sniffed again before continuing:

"The true sandalwood has a mellow and sweet scent, but although this fragrance smells sweet at first, it is mixed with a hint of bitterness."

Then he broke off half of the incense stick and crushed it in a small porcelain cup on the table.

The dark brown spices were mixed with black powdery substances.

"Your Highness and Your Highness's Consort, come and see!"

"This is charcoal powder that makes sandalwood burn longer. Some unscrupulous merchants use this kind of incense to pass off as good incense. Although it doesn't smell much different, long-term use can cause poisoning symptoms such as numbness in the limbs, dizziness, and blurred vision."

After Dr. Li finished speaking, An'er was so frightened that she lay down on the ground.

"Your Highness, spare me! This servant knows she was wrong!"

Pei Zhixuan walked up to An'er and demanded sharply, "Why did you poison her?!"

An'er said tearfully, trembling, "This servant didn't know the incense was poisonous. It was all a lie told by that incense shop. It has nothing to do with me."

Pei Zhixuan, true to his background in the Censorate's investigative methods, immediately seized upon the loophole in An'er's words: "Mother's sandalwood has always been purchased from the abbot of Baima Temple. Who ordered you to purchase it from the incense shop?"

"I...I."

An'er didn't know how to defend herself for a moment, so she could only hug Pei Zhixuan's leg and plead with him, crying, "Please, Your Highness, have mercy on An'er, considering how long An'er has served the Madam."

Pei Zhixuan seemed to have been touched by something dirty. He kicked An'er away and frowned. "Ping'an, take her away, tie her up, and interrogate her properly."

Ping An, following orders, came over and restrained An'er's hands as she struggled and begged for mercy.

Unexpectedly, An'er suddenly went berserk, shouting incoherently, "I don't want to go to the stable! If I go to the stable, I'll be half dead!"

“Just kill me already! It was me! I secretly went to buy cheap incense. What’s wrong with wanting to be greedy for a little money? This old bastard is withholding my monthly salary. How much do I earn in a month? What am I going to do about my mother’s serious illness?”

Seeing this, Ping An stepped forward, slapped her several times to daze her, and then roughly pushed her away.

Shen Yunjiao's eyelids twitched, and she immediately lowered her eyes.

Oh my god, this scene is a bit scary. I hope she won't have nightmares tonight.

However, this Xu family is really inhumane. They deducted wages from her own close maids.

"Your Highness, please report this to the authorities."

If left to Xu Shi to decide his fate, An'er is certain to die.

Although Pei Zhixuan did not manage the inner quarters, he knew that his mother was ruthless.

He nodded to Shen Yunjiao and said, "I will handle this matter."

"And thank you."

Pei Zhixuan looked at Shen Yunjiao with a different kind of emotion in his eyes.

When his gaze inadvertently swept to the side, he noticed the grievance and dissatisfaction that had welled up in Fang Ziyu's eyes, who had been silent for a long time.

Pei Zhixuan pursed his lips somewhat guiltily.

Once again, he neglected Fang Ziyu because of Shen Yunjiao.

So this is what it means to be caught in the middle; if only he had known...

"Xuan'er".

Xu's weak voice interrupted Pei Zhixuan's thoughts. He quickly grasped his mother's hand and said, "Mother, I'm here."

At this moment, Master Pei and his wife, who were waiting outside, saw the commotion and quickly went inside.

"Sister-in-law! You're finally awake!"

Xu looked bewildered. She glanced at the emotionally charged Madam Pei and then saw everyone gathered around her bed.

What happened?